CHAPTER 437: CHAPTER 311: THE DREAM OF THE WISTERIA BLOSSOMS_2

"No need to say the address?"

"No need."

Hanamaru Hiroki wouldn’t install tracking devices or anything like that on her.

Although he was a doting father, he knew his daughter had her own privacy.

This quick assistance button of Hanabi’s was probably a way for him, as a high-ranking police officer, to quickly locate the source of a message through its position.

This should be a police internal system function, but it was being used by her father-in-law to spoil his daughter.

Quite an efficient use.

"Brother!"

Aei appeared behind him.

"Done with the bathroom?" Uesugi Sakura turned around and saw Chiaei with the two ladies not far away.

"Yeah."

"Alright, let’s continue."

The Flower Park was naturally filled with flowers and fragrances. The three followed the crowd, walking under the large canopy of a White Vine Flower Tree.

The branches were curved and twisted, and the white vines hung like waterfalls. A gentle breeze caused thousands of tendrils to sway randomly.

Wind chimes were hung from the branches, with wishes written on them.

The subtle fragrance of flowers accompanied by the sound of chimes created a beautiful scene, as if stepping into a dreamy landscape.

Uesugi Sakura, with keen eyes, could even see bees collecting nectar from the flowers under the sunlight.

Bees will selectively collect nectar, only climbing onto flowers with a relatively rich supply of nectar or secretions.

The presence of bees indicates that the flowers are in full bloom.

"Aei, did you see the bees?"

"I saw them."

"If you follow the bees, you can find the hive, and then you’ll have honey to eat."

"Brother."

"Hmm?"

"Are you teasing Aei? That would get you stung by bees."

"Very clever."

"That’s common sense!" Aei said, "If you want to tease little kids, you can tease sister; she’s more naive."

Seeing that he couldn’t tease her, Uesugi Sakura chuckled, "Such a little smarty pants, but even Chiaei knows that disturbing a beehive will get you stung, right?"

"Sister doesn’t know, she hasn’t read picture books."

"What about cartoons?"

"She doesn’t watch them either."

Uesugi Sakura noticed Aei’s smile, understanding that she was deliberately inciting him to tease her sister.

What a thoughtful little sister.

"Sakura, how about taking a picture for us?" Hanamaru-san, like many tourists, was gazing up at the ancient yet lively white vine tree.

"No problem."

Once seven of them were together, Uesugi Sakura picked up the camera and took a picture for them.

Click! The swaying ancient white vine looked like a soul dancing.

"Sakura?"

When Uesugi Sakura came back to his senses, he found everyone standing beside him.

Hanamaru-san asked puzzledly, "What’s wrong with you? Why were you lost in thought for so long?"

"How long?" Uesugi Sakura had no concept of time, it felt like a moment.

"About three minutes," Uesugi-san said.

A very strange feeling.

Uesugi Sakura murmured to himself.

"Where’s Hanabi?" He looked around, searching for the familiar silhouette of the young girl in the crowd.

"Who?"

"Hanabi."

"..."

"..."

The breeze lifted his hair, and the chime of the bells on the white vine echoed more clearly.

Uesugi Sakura suddenly realized everyone was looking at him, none of them speaking.

His heart stopped for a second or two, a surreal icy chill ran from his heels to his brain.

He picked up the camera, quickly checking the photos he had just taken.

Aei, Chiaei, Uesugi-san, Hanamaru-san, Hanamaru Hanami, Uesugi Shin, a total of six people.

And one more...

Where’s Hanamaru Hanabi!?

He panicked, frantically flipping through the photos taken not long ago.

The white dress, the one with the White Lily hat.

Not there.

The silly one, the one with the little kitten expression.

Not there.

The one Uesugi-san took, by the ice cream truck.

Not there.

The one he took, a side profile.

Still not there.

Uesugi Sakura quickly glanced at the ring on his hand.

Ring, ring, engagement ring.

Still there!

The sparkle of the diamond in the sunlight allowed him to breathe a little easier.

"Sakura, what’s wrong?" Hanamaru-san lifted little Hanamaru Hanami on her arm.

"Aunt, where’s Hanabi?"

Uesugi-san: "Which Hanabi?"

"Hanamaru Hanabi!"

Uesugi-san glanced at Hanamaru-san, paused for a second, then looked at him holding the camera: "You mean... Meiko’s eldest daughter?"

"Yes, that’s her."

"..."

The air quieted, only the movement of surrounding tourists and the sound of the bells on the tree making any noise. The ethereal sound seemed to strike the soul, echoing through the valley.

Their voices had doubled, now moving away, farther from his brain, getting fuzzier, less real.

"What do you mean, Hanamaru Hanabi!"

"Sakura," Uesugi Nobuko said earnestly to him, "I don’t know how you knew Meiko’s eldest daughter, but fifteen years ago... Do you know there was a fire? Their eldest daughter, whom you call Hanamaru Hanabi, was three years old then. She... because of the fire, Meiko moved to our place."

"Are you joking?" Uesugi Sakura kept verifying with his mother’s and aunt’s faces.

Fire, when Hanabi was three?

Fire, he remembered there was a fire.

But wasn’t it resolved long ago?

Hanabi was also rescued.

Uesugi-san patiently explained to him:

"How could we joke about such a thing? Your uncle couldn’t move on from his eldest daughter for over ten years, so they didn’t have more children."

Uesugi Sakura turned to look at Hanamaru-san, trying to confirm the information from her.

"Yes, that’s how it was..." Hanamaru-san showed a regretful expression, unwilling to recall the event.

"Aei then? Does Aei know Hanabi-sister?"

"Brother..."

Little Aei was frightened by his anxious state, "Aei doesn’t know Hanabi-sister..."

"Chiaei then?!?"

"No, I don’t know either."

Don’t know... none of them know!?

Uesugi Sakura grasped Chiaei’s shoulders, looking at her small tear mole, continuously asking:

"How come! How did you get to know me? Didn’t I and Hanabi-sister come to the school together?"

"No... Only brother came to meet Aei...."

Completely chilled, Uesugi Sakura stopped asking further, instead taking two steps back, glancing around, mumbling:

"Can’t be, can’t be."

The moving crowd appeared double in his eyes, and his head felt like it was being pricked with needles.

"Clearly... she was just smiling at me..."

Thinking of that beautiful little face, the fragile voice suddenly disappearing in front of him, Uesugi Sakura felt his scalp tingle.

He held his head and squatted down.

"Sakura, Sakura, are you okay?"

"I’m fine..." Uesugi Sakura tried to make his tone sound normal, "I’m fine..."

"Sakura, do you want to go rest first?"

"Rest? No, can’t rest, Hanabi hasn’t been found yet."

Uesugi Sakura kept thinking about what had happened for Hanabi to suddenly disappear.

And why everyone had forgotten her.

She was so beautiful, so memorable.

She would call him Sakura-kun, help him cook, do laundry, make sweet jokes, engage in sweet couple interactions.

She was the woman he was set to marry in three months.

The fiancée he had made a lifelong promise to at sixteen.

Her sweet smile was the love of his life.

How come, how come she... disappeared!??

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t understand, and his head hurt more.

"Sakura, you should go rest first."

"No, no need..."

"Sakura, take a rest."

"Brother, rest for a while."

"Brother... really should rest."

Uesugi Sakura closed his eyes tightly, trying to suppress the intense pain in his brain. He wanted to push down this pain and look once more at the ring on his left ring finger.

Having this engagement ring was the only thing providing solace to his heart in this absurdity.

But when his eyes fell on his hand, it was empty.

The engagement ring... was also gone!?

The pain in his head intensified once more.

This time even more violently, his whole body trembled, and Uesugi Sakura had to hold his head tightly, lowering it further and further.